The Starbuck Stars amateur baseball team is still alive in the playoffs after splitting their first two County Line playoffs games Saturday and Sunday.

The Stars, who were seeded fifth of six teams in the County Line League, won at fourth-seeded Norway Lake-Sunburg, Saturday, by a 10-5 score, but the Stars were sent into the consolation bracket one day later with an 8-4 loss at top-seeded Atwater.

Paynesville topped Regal in the other tournament game, Saturday, 10-1 and then upset second-seeded NLS in the semifinals, 9-3.

The Stars are now set to play Regal in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. (tentative time), Sunday, while in other games, Norway Lake-Sunburg takes on NLS in another elimination game and Paynesville faces Atwater in the upper-bracket finals.  

The County Line Tourney continues the weekends of July 22-23 and July 29-30 before the top teams advance to the region playoffs.

Stars 10, NL-Sunburg 5

The Stars won their County Line playoff opener at Norway Lake-Sunburg, Saturday, 10-5.  The Stars were seeded fifth of six teams in the tourney, while the Lakers were seeded fourth.

Starbuck took an early 6-0 lead after three innings, but NL-Sunburg scored the next four runs to cut the Stars’ lead to 6-4 after five.

After three scoreless innings, the Stars added to their lead with a four-run ninth inning and the Lakers scored one run and had the bases loaded before Starbuck got the final out of the game.

Four of the Stars’ nine hits were for extra bases including homeruns by Michael Gruber and Aaron Ver Steeg.

Ver Steeg was 2-for-6 with two runs, three RBI, hitting a three-run homer in the third inning, while Matt Gruber was 2-for-5 with two runs and a stolen base and Michael Gruber was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer in the ninth.

Also coming through with hits for the Stars were Darion Alexander (double), Austin Ver Steeg, Austin Friese and Andrew Toop (triple).

Alexander improved to 4-2 on the mound for the Stars, pitching the first seven innings and giving up four hits, four runs (two earned) and seven walks with seven strikeouts.  Mitchell Gruber pitched the final two innings, giving up four more hits and one run.

Atwater 8, Stars 4

The Stars lost at Atwater, Sunday afternoon, in the second game of the County Line playoffs, 8-4.

Atwater, which won the regular-season title, took a 4-1 lead after three innings, but Starbuck cut the deficit to 5-4 with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth.

However, Atwater tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning, while the Stars had just two more baserunners over the final four innings (single and hit-by-pitch) while also striking out six times.

Atwater put together its key three-run sixth inning when the first five batters reached on three walks and two singles.  The inning mercifully came to an end on a doubleplay after the Chuckers had scored three runs and had runners on first and second.

The game came to an end on a doubleplay with runners on first and second.

Andrew Toop went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Stars, while Michael Gruber, Darion Alexander, Matt Gruber, Austin Friese, Aaron Ver Steeg and Jackson Hendrickson also had hits.

Austin Ver Steeg fell to 2-3 on the mound with the loss, giving up eight hits, eight runs (six earned) and four walks with five strikeouts.  Michael Gruber also pitched two innings of scoreless relief.

Josh Kingery earned the victory for the Chuckers, giving up just seven hits and four runs over eight innings while striking out 11.  Oh yeah, he was also 2-for-2 at the plate with three walks, three runs scored and a solo homer to lead off the first inning.

Stars 10, at NL-Sunburg 5

Stars (8-7) 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 — 10 9 2

NL-Sunburg 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 1 — 5 8 5

HITTING:  STARS-Matt Gruber 2-for-5, 2 runs, sb; Aaron Ver Steeg 2-for-6, 2 runs, 3 RBI, HR; Michael Gruber 1-for-5, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR; Darion Alexander 1-for-3, 2 runs, 2 bb, double; Austin Ver Steeg 1-for-4, 1 run, 2 RBI; Austin Friese 1-for-5; Andrew Toop 1-for-3, 1 run, RBI, triple; Drew Olsonawski 0-for-1, 1 run   . . . NL-SUN-Justin Johnson 2-for-5; six others with one hit each

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  STARS-Darion Alexander (W, 4-2)  7-4-4-2-7-7; Mitchell Gruber 2-4-1-1-2-1 . . . NL-SUN-Weston Gjerde (L)  3-3-6-3-1-0; Justin Johnson 6-6-4-1-1-3

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at Atwater 8, Stars 4

Stars (8-8) 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 — 4 8 4

Atwater 1 1 2 1 0 3 0 0 x — 8 9 0

HITTING:  STARS-Andrew Toop 2-for-4, RBI; Michael Gruber 1-for-4, 1 run; Darion Alexander 1-for-4, 1 run; Matt Gruber 1-for-1, 2 runs, RBI, 2 hbp; Austin Friese 1-for-3, sac; Aaron Ver Steeg 1-for-4, RBI, sacfly; Jackson Hendrickson 1-for-3, double, hbp; Austin Ver Steeg 0-for-3, sacfly, RBI  . . . ATWATER-Josh Kingery 2-for-2, 3 runs, RBI, 3 bb, HR; Jeff Peterson 2-for-4, 1 run, RBI, sac

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  STARS-Austin Ver Steeg (L, 2-3)  6-8-8-6-4-5; Michael Gruber 2-1-0-0-2-1 . . . ATWATER-Josh Kingery (W)  8-7-4-4-0-11; Kobe Holtz 1-1-0-0-0-0

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